tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88676613642782540712018-02-17T11:34:07.569-08:00Say No To LifeKarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-12077610973899626482017-12-28T13:12:00.000-08:002017-12-28T13:22:27.627-08:00Contemporary "Spirituality"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">At first when I saw this article title my interest was peaked. It's very rare to see Buddhism receiving any criticism in the western media, as it is the favoured religion of Occidental consumers. But as I read on it became clear that this fellow has his own agenda.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/why-i-dont-dig-buddhism/" target="_blank">Why I don't dig Buddhism</a><br /><br />The killer lines come here: <i>"To me, 'spiritual' means life-embracing, and so a path that turns away from aspects of life as essential as sexual love and parenthood is not spiritual but anti-spiritual."</i><br /><br />Dwell on that for a moment. In ages past, the spiritual life signified a noble effort at transcendental self-overcoming that sought to deny the pull of ephemeral worldly baubles. Or as Bazompora put it on this blog some time ago: <i>From the dawn of civilisations, man dreamt of casting off his flesh and ascending from the physical world; until the modern sham of "life is great/wonderful/..."&nbsp; with its "child-friendly" blinders upon education, the average man was capable of judging this world for something not worth attaching to.</i><br /><i> </i><br />In this age, for many, Spirituality seems to have reversed its meaning and now represents shameless indulgence of the self and ego.<br /><br /><i>I'm spiritual, but not religious......</i>will be the tagline for the end of the Ages. <br /><br /><i></i> <i></i></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-70835643927169864282017-11-29T01:42:00.001-08:002017-11-29T01:53:54.018-08:00The Futility of Antinatalism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">"<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Antinatalism is an epic failure. Such a philosophy is unthinkable and unobtainable for the vast majority. An infinite chasm exists between it and the average person’s weaknesses, depravities, priorities, etc... I honestly believe most CANNOT live up to such things no matter what. They can’t even come close to doing so.</span></span></span>...<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody">AN is and always will be a total failure. It is no less a version of philosophical opium for the sensitive than religion. That's why I laugh when I see people here and elsewhere demand more "AN activism", as if there were an ice-cube's chance in hell of it ever taking off." - Joint statement from two AN Elders</span></span></span><br /><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody">"The lessons never seem to get learnt. They never seem to get learnt. Maybe the odd individual will learn them, but you still see this madness around you. You can say, ‘For goodness’ sake! Can’t you see how you’re making the same mistakes humans have made before? Can’t we do this differently?’ But it doesn’t happen. Unpleasantness and suffering are too deeply written into the structure of sentient life to be eliminated.”- David Benatar</span></span></span><br /><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-case-for-not-being-born?mbid=social_facebook" target="_blank">New Yorker interview with David Benatar</a></span></span></span></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-74633177491495819902017-10-23T01:49:00.001-07:002017-10-23T01:49:43.615-07:00New Benatar essay and vitriolic response<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A new and succinct Benatar essay with some interesting comments:<br /><br /><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/having-children-is-not-life-affirming-its-immoral" target="_blank">Having children is not life-affirming, it's immoral</a><br /><br />And an unusually moronic and vitriolic response even by normal standards:<br /><br /><a href="https://spectator.org/intellectual-morons-professor-evil-calls-for-the-end-of-humanity/" target="_blank">Evil Professor calls for end to humanity</a><br /><br />Stay sterile!</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-22745826183203597092017-04-12T07:29:00.002-07:002017-04-12T07:29:18.843-07:00From AN to Alternative-Right?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A friend writes to me:<br /><br />"<span class="_5yl5"><span>I've noticed that in the Venn diagram of subcultures, AN and Alt-Right have overlapped for awhile, but it seems like more and more pessimistic/AN people are moving in that direction."</span></span><br /><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span>Do you agree? If so, why might this be the case? Are some people suddenly dreading the thought of being part of a declining culture that may find itself outnumbered by more traditional cultures who still place a heavy emphasis on propagation and expansion?</span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span>All thoughts welcome. (Well, some anyway).</span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span>*****************************************************************</span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span>In other news, one of my favourite bloggers is active again: Louie over on 'Everything is Pointless'. He also has a new podcast show up and running. For some reason, I've having trouble embedding the addresses on the blog-list, but he can be found at</span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span><a href="http://everythingispointless.com/" target="_blank">http://everythingispointless.com/</a></span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span>And&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span><br /></span></span><span class="_5yl5"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvBjdxGibLxh5_LLq6y35CQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvBjdxGibLxh5_LLq6y35CQ</a></span></span><br /><br /><span class="_5yl5"><span>I encourage everyone to take a look! </span></span></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com75tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-28173205307253394412016-09-05T01:11:00.004-07:002016-09-05T01:12:07.180-07:00Testimony of a bereaved parent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This deeply moving and tragic testimony was submitted as a comment last week. It merits its own post.<br /><br />"As someone who had a child (who died at the age of 21 months in a car accident, never comprehending what was happening to him), I'd like to say a few things.<br /><br />The first is this: it was the single greatest joy I ever experienced. And he was overjoyed to be alive. You could see it in his face and how he ran about. I never loved anyone or anything more. I don't think I could have. I was more alive and joyous and ecstatic than I had ever been. I delighted in his growth and his intelligence, strength and courage. It was likely the best time of my life. And I'm grateful for it.<br /><br />Then he died. Run over by his mom in a driveway. Totally not her fault. She thought he was playing with me somewhere else and could not see him (she was backing up). I had forgotten what my wife was doing and never thought he was in danger where he was. Neither of us was drunk, or high, or anything else like that. Kids played on that road all the time. We were just doing what we always did together. Then he died.<br /><br />That was the worst pain I ever experienced. I won't go into it. It was beyond awful, more painful than when I almost lost a thumb to a wood splitter. I thought I would die for most of it. I just could not believe that my beautiful son was gone, just like that. I had brought him into the world only to die at 21 months old. I was (in other's eyes, not just my own) a great father, as these things go, and heaven knows his mom was lovely. I loved him dearly, more than I had words for. I would have literally died to protect him, and that is no joke. But that choice was not given to me. I had no control at all, in the end, other than the obvious things like loving him, educating him, and not hitting or abusing him or wrecking his sense of self and belonging. Life had cars, and diseases, and other life-threatening things I could not stop. But somehow I had forgotten that, as my wife and I had had fairly happy childhoods and had survived. Not so for him.<br /><br />As time has gone by, I have thought about whether I had any right to bring a person into this world, even when circumstances are (and they were) good, or at least as good as they could have possibly been. Given what I have learned about our condition in the universe, and the extreme evidence brought about by my son's early death, at this point I would have to say 'no'. I don't. Even though I think he would have had a really good life had he lived to see it, and he did have about the best of all possible worlds when he was alive, I don't know that for a fact. I just wish I had thought about this before he lived, and died, as much as I loved him and as much as I wish he was still here long enough to say 'sorry' to and wish him on his way (even though I know in my head he cannot hear me and is now just bones). I'll live with what happened forever. And as beautiful as he was and as great as it was to have him in our lives, I hope and pray (ha!) that I'll never do that again. It's not fair. The next one could die too, or worse. <br /><br />Thanks for listening. This seemed an appropriate place to tell this story."</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-129821972866311582016-01-13T02:53:00.003-08:002016-01-13T02:53:38.211-08:00The Futility of the Sensitive<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Sensitivity, kindness, compassion and all these other alleged virtues are of little use in this world. In fact, they will make your life harder than it need be, as you will be crippled by over-awareness of every slight, every injustice, every pointless grief. Life is a violent process, generated by violence (think of the thrusting, grunting, force and possession involved in the sexual act), and maintained by violence. Your life will be happier the more of a pig you can be. Moreover, those you help, or imagine helping, will not be that grateful; most will go on to procreate and renew the slaughterhouse, and applaud the others who do so. <br /><br />Another good reason to be a pessimist. </div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-89120292435902276362015-11-16T03:19:00.001-08:002015-11-16T23:36:20.226-08:00We will always be ruled by Thugs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By definition, those who enter politics are almost invariably extroverted, confident and determined. They have a vision of the world and they are dedicated to foisting it on you. You will be part of their narrative, regardless of whether you want to be or not. They seek power and adulation. They&nbsp;have a 'positive' vision. They are all pro-family and pro-life.<br /><br />Pessimists, antinatalists and generally those in any way sensitive&nbsp;are generally introverted, solitary and disgusted by the world.&nbsp;Like the wise snail, they&nbsp;seek to curl up in their sanctuary and be left undisturbed. Sensitive people do not wish to expose themselves to the mob. They do not&nbsp;wish to 'compete', to prostitute themselves, to endure the demeaning gaze of the public eye. Bar their impotent fantasies of world annihilation or world sterilisation they do not seek power.<br /><br />Thus it is almost an iron law that Assholes will always rule. Another good reason to be a pessimist.</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-11754441058344016302015-11-07T01:29:00.001-08:002015-11-07T01:29:37.775-08:00iPhonitis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Ok, this is a rant of no particular philosophical import, bar that it touches on the vacuity of life and the triviality of human beings.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U3OzjltipOo/Vj3Dwm2qydI/AAAAAAAAAEU/x4YBFFzsvmk/s1600/Phones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U3OzjltipOo/Vj3Dwm2qydI/AAAAAAAAAEU/x4YBFFzsvmk/s320/Phones.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />iPhones. They are everywhere. You cannot walk down the street without beholding some biped fleshsack shuffling along, with their snouts buried in a small screen, eagerly engrossed in the electronic phantasgamoria. Most importantly, these people are not looking where they are going, so in essence you have the added responsibility of not only watching your own step but you also have to be aware that this clod may and often will walk right into you, so engrossed are they in their Facebook updates and 'likes'.<br /><br />Then you get on public transport. Again, every clown there has their face riveted on the small screen that gives them an illusion of a life.<br />&nbsp; <br />Worse for me personally I've noticed that every time I sit down in a library someone will inevitably sit down next to me and will start playing with their phone immediately, so even in a fucking <i>library</i> there's no escape. A few days ago some woman had her phone on vibrate and the damned thing was rattling the table violently every five seconds. I gave the bitch such a glare that she put it on silent, but even the fact that I had to resort to such tactics pissed me off.<br /><br />And then there are the background factors. iPhones need a mineral named coltan to function. This is where it comes from:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3280872/iPhone-mineral-miners-Africa-use-bare-hands-coltan.html">The Slavery that drives your iPhone</a><br /><br />I sent this link to a friend of mine who fancies himself as a diehard Leftist and 'Revolutionary', or in other words he's deluded. He responded with an email worthy of any squealing teenage girl: "But I just <i>cannot</i> function without an iPhone". You see, ultimately Capitalism and innovation is the greatest revolutionary force of all: it moulds people to its ends without their even realising it.<br /><br />I'm glad I don't have one; in fact, only two other people I know don't and I hope we continue to hold out. <br /><br />And it's also fair to say that the indispensability of the wretched gadget for most people again just underlines the ultimate vacuity of life and the terror of reality. Imagine if people had to do without their toys and contemplate the sky, their lives, their mortality...<br /><br /><br /></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-74799606698972272922015-09-28T03:23:00.002-07:002015-09-30T03:48:12.614-07:00A little noted aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">One of the often overlooked aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict is demography, in particular the ever rising amount of people fighting over a relatively small piece of territory.<br /><br />Israel has a population of roughly 8.2 million, in an area of 8,500 square miles. Its population density is&nbsp;1,0004 per square mile. It is 263 miles long and its width ranges from 71 miles at its widest&nbsp;to 9.3 at its narrowest. It is No.32 in the list of the world's most densely populated countries according to Wikipedia.<br /><br />Of course, the situation in the Palestinian territories is infinitely worse. The Gaza Strip is 139 square miles with a population of 1.8 million and a density of something approaching 10,000 per square mile. It is a mere 25 miles long and roughly 6 miles wide. The West Bank has a population of 2.3 million within 2,180 square miles. Taken together, the Palestinian territories rank at No.20 in the world list of population density.<br /><br />As a result of the Israeli blockade and assault of 2014 it is estimated the area may be uninhabitable by 2020:<br /><br /><a href="http://time.com/4019509/gaza-uninhabitable-unctad/" target="_blank">Gaza uninhabitable within 5 years</a><br /><br />Perhaps one could imagine a bizzare reversal of the Jewish Exodus in the years to come, as millions of Palestinians simply march into Israel, unable to subsist in their present state. <br /><br />Water is also a scarce and vital resource in the area as a whole and control of it is used as a&nbsp;weapon in the conflict. <br /><br />Children are also used as weapons, both in the desire to keep the populations of both peoples rising and also as future and present soldiers. Palestinian children also represent a disproportionate number of casualties due to the enormous population&nbsp;density of the Gaza strip.<br /><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict" target="_blank">Children in the Israel-Palestine conflict</a><br /><br />From the AN perspective, the area is the world in a microcosm....<br /><br />Addendum:&nbsp; "Israel is on the road to an ecological, social and quality of life disaster because as the population density rises it becomes more violent, congested and unpleasant to live in and with absolutely no room for any species other than humans."<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/09/25/uk-israel-demographics-idUKKCN0RP0ZG20150925" target="_blank">Israel running out of room</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-18363558049800548152015-09-11T03:13:00.003-07:002015-09-11T03:15:45.108-07:00More, More, More<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The current crisis in Europe fills me with a weary despair. Putting aside the issue of potential ISIS infiltrators and so on, the site of hundreds of thousands of desperate people being added to the pre-existent millions, all prepared to work in shit jobs, live in shit accommodation, do whatever it takes to cling to life, and all the while no doubt procreating is not likely to fill those who find themselves on this blog with joy. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DOSRZvPay8/VfKnnmX9nvI/AAAAAAAAAEE/3QsNvyEStwo/s1600/People.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DOSRZvPay8/VfKnnmX9nvI/AAAAAAAAAEE/3QsNvyEStwo/s320/People.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />American readers may wonder why I go on about this so much, but bear in mind that your country has one of the lowest population densities in the world, heck you even have a Witness protection scheme that assumes your country is big enough to disappear in. Such schemes would be extremely difficult to operate in Europe. <br /><br />But anyway, <em>nihil novi</em>.....<br /><br />&nbsp;</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-68057750266385694392015-05-18T08:19:00.002-07:002015-05-18T08:22:04.543-07:00The Beauty of the World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The world and the universe is an extremely beautiful place, and the more we understand about it the more beautiful does it appear. It is an immensely exciting experience to be born in the world, born in the universe, and look around you. it would be such a shame to blow it and end your life not having understood what there is to understand - Richard Dawkins<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2542662/Footage-emerged-cannibal-eating-leg-Muslim-Central-African-Republic.html" target="_blank">'Mad Dog' the Cannibal eats second Muslim in as many weeks</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/11610908/Nigerian-restaurant-shut-down-for-serving-human-flesh.html" target="_blank">Human flesh on the menu in Nigerian restaurant</a>&nbsp;</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-33392768834175548572015-04-26T01:41:00.001-07:002015-04-26T01:42:06.160-07:00Nepal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadhimai_festival" target="_blank">The Gadhimai Festival in Nepal, which sees thousands of animals slaughtered for the purpose of religious ritual.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/26/nepal-earthquake-death-toll-climbs-towards-2000-as-world-responds" target="_blank">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/26/nepal-earthquake-death-toll-climbs-towards-2000-as-world-responds</a><br /><br /><i>Thus is worked out, from maggots up to man, the universal law of the violent destruction of living beings. The whole earth, continually steeped in blood, is nothing but an immense altar on which every living thing must be sacrificed without end, without restraint, without respite until the consummation of the world,the extinction of evil, the death of death </i>-&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre" target="_blank">Joseph de Maistre</a> </div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-13770332403423321032015-04-18T02:08:00.000-07:002015-04-18T02:09:51.329-07:00Because too many, yet again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I know, I know, this is an old bugbear of mine but I can't help it. <br /><br />I wonder if I'm one of the few who finds the spiraling number of humans deeply nauseating and depressing. It's not like I attach much value to my life anyway, but objectively it's all exacerbated by knowing that there are 7.3 billion other stupid Janes and Joes out there, all scrambling to survive until their death. This troubles me just sitting by myself in my little corner, and then I only have to step outside my door to be tripping over buggies, brats and their awful mothers who consider themselves saints.<br /><br />And as we all know, the more there are of something the less its value, so don't be expecting too many people to be troubling themselves over your fate - they've got other things to be doing, like scrabbling for food in the dustbin and queuing up for their ration of Soylent Green.<br /><br />I live in London, and hey, by standards of the new world mega-cities London is a village, only 9 million milling around its market square. I was in Tokyo last week, 30 million people there. One guy I was talking to told me he got only 4 days off a year, such is the struggle to survive.<br /><br />So a few basic points to consider:<br /><br />More people means.... &nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />less countryside....<br />less solitude, more people in your face....<br />more demand for endless garbage and crap.... &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />more work and toil needed to provide said garbage and crap so....<br />longer working lives so.....<br />more pressure on social welfare and state pension.<br />more morons, as people tend toward the lowest common denominator.... &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />so with more people, more vulgarity and crudity.<br /><br />But as the morons say: <i><b>It's all good.</b></i><br /><br />I mean if I weren't an AN on metaphysical grounds, surely I might pause to think that any kid of mine is going to face a tougher struggle for survival than me and previous generations. But no, biology always wins. Oh well, I'm just gassing to no purpose, and not particularly eloquently, but there you are, I'm tired and there are more new people to be in awe of.<br /><br /><i><b><a href="http://www.populationmatters.org/?gclid=CM-2lPe9_8QCFYoEwwodYyYAww" target="_blank">http://www.populationmatters.org/?gclid=CM-2lPe9_8QCFYoEwwodYyYAww</a>&nbsp;</b></i><br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PopulationMatters?fref=ts" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/PopulationMatters?fref=ts</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-41923688153673830032015-03-20T06:08:00.002-07:002015-03-20T06:09:02.670-07:00John Gray v Steven Pinker on the alleged decline of violence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">John Gray and Steven Pinker have been attacking each other in the media over Pinker's claim the world is becoming a less violent place. Worth reading and some of the comments are good also. I love how Pinker's article is placed in the 'Death and Dying' category of the paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank">http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining?CMP=share_btn_tw</a><br /><br /><br />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/wars-john-gray-conflict-peace?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/wars-john-gray-conflict-peace?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter</a>&nbsp;</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-56560584318527076172015-02-17T13:11:00.001-08:002015-02-17T13:11:36.510-08:00Aiming to procreate on Mars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><br />http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2956829/Meet-five-Britons-live-MARS-Mission-reveals-final-longlist-manned-journey-red-planet-2025.html<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ<br /><br /><br /></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-55815062870254530572015-01-11T02:50:00.000-08:002015-01-11T02:50:00.774-08:00Paris attacks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A couple points:<br /><br />I'm really disgusted by those who imply that the cartoonists somehow 'brought it on themselves'. That attitude is revolting and plays into the hands of the attackers. Anyone who responds to satire, however extreme, with murder is an asshole.<br /><br />Secondly, the response of most Europeans seems to be that ultimately the attacks are nothing to worry about from the bigger strategic point of view, but I think it's worth pointing out that it's always fanatical elites who make and determine the course of History: Christians in the first three centuries, Nazis, Bolsheviks, etc. 98% of people are docile and do nothing; it's the 2% that count. These guys mean business and have to be taken seriously.</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-17066905850952689842014-11-13T02:33:00.000-08:002014-11-13T02:33:00.763-08:00Who will support the childless elderly?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Fascinating discussion. Many people in the comments saying they intend to take their own lives when old, plus a few challenges to the sanctimony of parents.<br /><br /><a class="" href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/12/ageing-without-children" target="">http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/12/ageing-without-children</a></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-37678238957165606382014-10-30T06:16:00.001-07:002014-10-30T06:16:25.971-07:00Female Sterilsation and Reproducing at 70<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It's a mad, bad world. Keep away from it.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Young women in the USA talk&nbsp; about the difficulty of finding doctors willing to sterilise them:<br /><br /><a class="" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/female-sterilization-young-women_n_5882000.html" target="">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/female-sterilization-young-women_n_5882000.html</a><br /><br />While in India women hatch at 70:<br /><br /><a class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-29828872" target="">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-29828872</a></span></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-25824393886925236242014-08-18T00:18:00.001-07:002014-08-18T00:18:33.454-07:00An Unattended Death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">A ninety year old woman died in her home in Auburn. She had decomposed through the floor before she was found six months later. The diaries found in her belongings shed light on this lonely and brilliant mind. Watch the documentary, and read excerpts from her diaries here.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a class="c_nobdr t_prs" href="http://www.sbs.com.au/thefeed/blog/2014/08/11/unattended-death" target="_blank">http://www.sbs.com.au/thefeed/blog/2014/08/11/unattended-death</a></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2726565/Old-age-curse-I-feel-like-half-dried-rug-purpose-rung-Heartbreaking-words-woman-outlived-loved-ones-lost-zest-life-dying-kitchen-floor.html</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the commenters in the Daily Mail said;<br /></span></span><br /><i>it's sadly true that if you go for a career over children, then it's later that you may bitterly regret it. If you can't have your own children, then either adopt, foster, or try to keep in contact with young people in some way or other. You may be old, ugly, boring or whatever, but if you have shown love to any young ones, they will love you back and won't abandon you.</i><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />To which someone else said:<br /><br /><i>Yet another breeder who thinks that by miraculously having children, their life will be complete. It's disgusting to think that you know better over those who have made a conscious decision not to have them; do you ever wonder why there are so many feral children, so many in care, so many that will always be unemployed or disaffected? Forcing those who know they will not be good parents to have children in the hopes things will all of a sudden burst into miraculous joy and rainbows and love is the ultimate selfishness. This woman never regretted having children, it's the article that said they didn't have any. It's you who are the sad one, thinking all women are good for is breeding or parenting. Quite frankly, I think it's horrific that you think people have to have children to burden them with looking after them when they get old - it's like breeding slaves.</i><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />You can see their exchange if you go to the comments and click the 'best rated' option.</div></div></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-37160843519885491152014-07-15T00:53:00.000-07:002014-07-15T00:53:22.308-07:00Moral Myopia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">So, another shit storm in the Middle East, that zone that encompasses the human condition within a few square hundred miles: hopeless, incessantly violent, unfair and ultimately pointless. However, what irks me at the moment is the usual moral crusading on the usual social media platforms by people who in all likelihood have never been to Israel or Palestine, speak neither Arabic nor Hebrew, and whose knowledge of the area's history is sketchy at best. One thing the Internet has encouraged are self-declared moral heroes, whose bravery consists in making a loud declaration of what should be done - not by themselves of course, but by others - before returning to their cosy, privileged lives, feeling good about themselves for having bared their soul. Of course generally these people will pontificate about all manner of shit while casually walking over the neighbourhood homeless and down and outs, because, well, to represent those people wouldn't be half as <i>glamourous</i>, would it? And yes, mea culpa, of course. No one is exempt. Humans suck.<br /><br />http://takimag.com/article/who_cares_about_the_middle_east/print#axzz37WIxE6nN</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-48337897896288977202014-06-05T03:38:00.001-07:002014-06-05T03:38:21.000-07:00When asked why he wrote....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">....Samuel Beckett said it was 'in order to leave a stain upon the silence'. Maybe in today's world of overpopulation, overproduction, and overconsumption the more honourable course is to leave a silence upon the stain.</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-11728091140620206632014-05-16T02:10:00.002-07:002014-05-16T02:10:44.486-07:00People are capable of anything....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">....except doing nothing, the only thing worth doing.</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-11474442573577164542014-03-25T02:24:00.002-07:002014-03-25T02:24:59.190-07:00Children as the Opium of the Masses and Fuel for the Fire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2588500/Children-opium-masses-says-MP-Backbencher-hits-think-offspring-purpose-life-admits-wants-father-himself.html<br />&nbsp;<span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I looked around elsewhere and this guy talks about people needing to focus on 'building civilisation' instead. Of course, you need kids to keep a civilisation going, and I doubt anyone consciously built a 'civilisation' anyway; it just evolved blindly. I reckon this guy has some existential issues bubbling under the surface, but his social programming won't let him admit it fully, so he comes out with confused and contradictory pronouncements. Personally, I reckon the kids should be left in non-existence and then there'll be no need for 'civilisation' or anything else.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">Elsewhere, this article put me in mind of the wonderful 1973 future dystopia movie 'Soylent Green', except with the focus on the other end of the lifeline:</span></span></span><br /><br /><span data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".g.1:3:1:$comment305227499653528_305235026319442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">&nbsp;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10717566/Aborted-babies-incinerated-to-heat-UK-hospitals.html</span></span></span></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-65378988073810123352014-02-02T08:38:00.001-08:002014-02-02T08:38:57.175-08:00Whereupon I am berated by an Angry 'Nam Veteran<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The follwing comment came up two posts back, and I just thought it was too good and juicy not to get a post of its own:<br /><br />"With respect Karl, perhaps you are a man that I don't fully understand. A long time ago, I was in Vietnam. My army friends and I were working for the US. We were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them. But our caravans kept being raided in the forest by the tribals. So, we went looking for the tribals. For six months, we kept giving them clothes,food,durables. One day, I saw a local child playing with a broken radio given by us. The tribals had been throwing them away.<br /><br />Well, the tribals thought raiding was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.<br />You are [I] think such a man."<br /><br /><br /><span id="bc_0_80b+seedsO0pD" kind="d"><br /> My initial response:<br /> <br />"Oh right, so because those people didn't want to be assimilated by your way of life, there's something 'wrong' with them; because they didn't want to be bought off by invaders on their own land, they're primitive and 'backward'. <br /><br />Incredible, but not sadly uncommon, parochialism."<br /> <br />I should also have pointed out the commenter's anger at the inability to successfully bully these natives, not to mention the rather lame Batman quotation.<br /> <br />Srikant wrote:<br /> <br /></span><span id="bc_0_80b+seedsO0pD" kind="d">'"Some men just want to watch the world burn."<br />... while others like to set people afire on napalm.'<br /> <br />Best of all was my buddy Jeff's take:<br /> <br /></span><span>"We are the people (antinatalists)&nbsp;he and his people (the rest of the world)&nbsp;are trying to bribe and buy off. They keep giving us baubles of this world, like material goods, religion, politics, art, promises of love and friendship, and so on, to convince us of the rightness of this world and its continuation. We turn their trinkets&nbsp;over in our hands, and although they can be quite attractive and interesting, we find no ultimate value in them, so we pass them along to our&nbsp;unborn&nbsp;children, to see what they think. For them, they are meaningless toys.&nbsp;Since they don't exist, they have no use for all those things. Especially broken radios. :)</span>"</div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8867661364278254071.post-33845411627960376802014-01-22T05:07:00.000-08:002014-01-22T07:40:47.485-08:00Steven Pinker on Why your Suffering doesn't Matter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Steven Pinker, author of a recent tome entitled <i>The Better Angels of our Nature</i> which attempts to prove the world is becoming less violent, offers the following observations. The comments immediately after are by Bazompora, whom I thank for putting me on to this.<br /><br /><div><i><br />"If one focuses on absolute numbers, one ends up with moral absurdities such as these: (a) it’s better to reduce the size of a population by half and keep the rates of rape and murder the same than to reduce the rates of rape and murder by a third; (b) even if a society’s practices were static, so that its rates of war and violence don’t change, its people would be worse and worse off as the population grows, because a greater absolute number of them would suffer; (c) every child brought into the world is a moral evil, because there is a nonzero probability that he or she will be a victim of violence."</i><br /><a href="http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/643345-twilight-of-violence" target="_blank">http://old.richarddawkins.net/<wbr></wbr>articles/643345-twilight-of-<wbr></wbr>violence</a><br /><br />Quite unambiguously, this Steven Pinker understands the antinatalist conclusions, only to dismiss them out of hand and in favor of his utilitarian abstraction in which the individual doesn't count.</div><div><br />It must offer quite a privilege, to have the good life reserved for oneself, as well as the authority to be stoic on behalf of all the bad lives.<br /><br /></div>Karl: So there we have it, Steven Pinker, lauded by the deluded mandarins of academia, <i>thinks it a moral absurdity to worry about exposing a person to the risk of violence and suffering</i>.<br /><br />Or as La Rochefoucauld put it: 'We all have strength enough to endure the suffering of others'. </div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333013979246343381noreply@blogger.com66